Abstract
OBJECTIVES—To determine changes in demographic variables and severity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that may have occurred during the 30 year period from 1960 to 1990 in Japan. METHODS—Using records of patients diagnosed with RA from two hospitals, demographic and clinical features at initial visit were compared between two groups, one from 1960 to 1965 (group I) and the other from 1985 to 1990 (group II). RESULTS—Mean age at the time of onset of the disease increased significantly from 37.5 years in group I to 46.9 in group II. The peak age at onset of RA shifted from the third to the fifth decade between group I and group II. There was no obvious change in morbidity as determined by seropositivity, rheumatoid nodules, and assessments of hip involvement. CONCLUSION—The age at onset of RA was delayed during a recent 30 year period in Japan. This increase in age at onset might result from environmental changes that occurred in Japan or may reflect a birth cohort phenomenon. Improvement of severity of disease was not found in this study.
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Figure 1 .
Distribution of age at onset.▪ : Group I patients who visited Osaka University Hospital from 1960 to 1965, □: group II patients who attended Shichikawa Arthritis Research Centre from 1985 to 1990.
Figure 2 .
Distribution of age at onset. Group A: 366 patients at Shichikawa Arthritis Research Centre between 1985 and 1990, Group B: 286 patients at Osaka University Hospital between 1985 and 1990, Group C: 233 patients at Yukioka Hospital between 1985 and 1990, Group D: 370 patients at Osaka-Minami National Hospital between 1991 and 1994.
Selected References
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